I had to leave my hotel by 8AM to head to the airport this morning, but I was out of bed and up at Miradouro de Santa Catarina for sunrise at 7:20AM. It’s not the prettiest viewpoint, but it was close to my hotel (straight up several flights of stairs) and gave me a chance to spend a few minutes reflecting on my time in Lisbon before heading home.
“This is so cool,” I said to myself over and over (and over and over) again as I spent the morning and early afternoon wandering around the medieval walled town of Óbidos, Portugal. This was possibly the best day of the entire vacation. An hour-long bus ride from Lisbon transports you to an historic town filled with white painted buildings, colorful doors and tiles, and books. Yes, books. Óbidos has been a UNESCO Literary City since 2015 and is home to 14 different bookstores. I mean, where else can you find a converted church where the altar is filled with bookshelves?
Did you know that Lisbon is the place where Vasco de Gama set sail on his voyages of discovery? Lisbon’s maritime history and role in exploration are so significant that there is an iconic monument in the neighborhood of Belém honoring those voyages of discovery. Today I visited Belém to pay my respects to Vasco de Gama, get pooped on by a bird (I kid you not), and eat an original pastel de nata.
Sintra is one of the most popular day trips from Lisbon. Just 15 miles northwest of the city, Sintra is known for the colorful Pena Palace and hauntingly beautiful Quinta de Regalia, both of which were on my agenda for today. Despite the cloudy skies, I was determined to make the best of my day out of Lisbon.
My favorite style of travel (in recent years anyway) is slow travel, where I take the time to savor and enjoy where I am without rushing from place to place checking things off a list. And that’s exactly what I did today. My day started with a pre-dawn walk around Lisbon, included a visit to a castle, a convent, and the remains of a ruined church, and ended with a traditional Portuguese meal of bacalhau com natas.
After a glorious 10 hours of sleep last night, I was ready to take on Lisbon once again. Given that the sunny weather prediction for today turned into clouds (and drizzle) with only a little sun mixed in, I decided to move some of my plans around in hopes of more sun tomorrow.
It’s Valentine’s Day and I’m in love. With Lisbon, Portugal, that is. And if my first day in Lisbon is any indication, I’m only going to fall more in love with this city as the week goes on.
Another cloudy morning, but that didn’t stop me from going out for one last walk around the Amsterdam canals before heading to the airport.
Well, today turned out to be kind of a bust. Not entirely, it just wasn’t the day I had been hoping for. It was another gray day but I wasn’t going to let that derail my plans. I ended up spending a little time in the village of Broek in Waterland, visiting a hidden church, and eating my way through Amsterdam.
I thought yesterday was going to be the best day of this vacation. I mean how can you top seeing millions of flowers all in bloom in beautifully manicured gardens? Well, you can take a day trip to explore three (or more) scenic villages that make up the area known as Waterland, just north of Amsterdam in North Holland. I don’t mind cities, but I hate crowds. And the two usually go hand in hand. And even though I loved the gardens yesterday, they were crowded. So today’s adventure felt like it was worlds away from the crowds I’ve encountered in the past few days. I began my day in Edam (pronounced “Ay-dahm”), walked to Volendam, took a ferry to Marken, and then headed back to Amsterdam.
Traveling with Laura 